TWO FINALISTS REPORTED IN BIDDING WAR FOR 7-UP

By RICHARD W. STEVENSON

Published: October 1, 1986

Two soft drink companies that are trying to build viable competitors to Coke and Pepsi are the finalists in the bidding for the Seven-Up Company, according to industry sources.

A decision for the nation's third-largest soda maker is expected within days, they said yesterday.

Jesse Meyers, publisher of Beverage Digest, a trade publication, said the Philip Morris Companies would sell Seven-Up to either Hicks & Haas, a Dallas investment firm that recently acquired the Dr Pepper Company and A& W Root Beer, or the National Beverage Corporation, which last year acquired the Shasta Beverage Corporation.

Bottlers confirmed that Hicks & Haas and National Beverage were the leading contenders. Mr. Meyers said the price was estimated to be in the low $200 million range.

A call to a Philip Morris spokesman last night was not answered. Industry of Fierce Rivalries

Seven-Up has been suffering from intensifying competition from the Coca-Cola Company and Pepsico Inc., and Philip Morris has been trying to sell the subsidiary for a year.

In January Philip Morris agreed to sell Seven-Up to Pepsi for $380 million, but that deal was blocked by Federal antitrust regulators. Philip Morris later agreed to sell Seven-Up's international business to Pepsi for $246 million.

Mr. Meyers said he believed Hicks & Haas would be the eventual winner in the bidding. He noted the strength of its management, which now includes top Dr Pepper executives.

Philip Morris had promised Seven-Up bottlers that it would select a buyer based on ability to strengthen the soft drink's weakening marketplace position as well as on financial considerations.

Bottlers have been urging Philip Morris to choose either Hicks & Haas or National Beverage from the list of seven or so bidders. ''If that's what the final choice comes down to, the bottlers in general would be content,'' said Roger Easley, the head of the Seven-Up Bottlers Association. Some of Competing Bidders

The other bidders were said to include a group headed by William Winters, a former Seven-Up president; Great Waters of France, the company that sells Perrier, and the Squirtpak Company, a soft-drink manufacturer with headquarters in Michigan.

A sale to either Hicks & Haas or National Beverage would create a company that, while considerably smaller than Coke or Pepsi, would be better able to withstand their marketing onslaught. Coca-Cola's brands held 39 percent of the domestic market on March 31, and Pepsi's brands held 29 percent, according to Beverage Digest.